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Algarve’s last remaining cooperative winery to house wine museum

The Adega Cooperativa do Algarve – Única, the Algarve’s last-standing cooperative winery, has officially handed over its archives and bibliographic material to Lagoa council, after signing a protocol of cooperation with the local authority on Wednesday, with a view to creating a regional wine museum at the Adega.

The handover includes historic materials from the Lagoa and Lagos cooperative wineries, which Única inherited in 2008 when the winery merger occurred.“The archival material resulting from this merger constitutes an invaluable heritage, not only for the memory of the municipality of Lagoa and the Algarve region, but also of great relevance for the knowledge of the history of Portuguese wine production in the second half of the twentieth century”, Lagoa council said in a statement.In addition to its documental estate, Única also owns a vast array of winemaking equipment, from machinery and agricultural implements to wine bottles and spirits from its production. This set of items relating to the economic activity that was the lifeblood of these wineries, and which is of significant patrimonial value in the field of industrial archaeology, is sadly obsolete in the face of technological developments and manufacturing processes, but is still in a reasonable state of conservation. It is important, therefore, to show it to the residents of Lagoa and visitors to the county, in a museum to be created on the premises of the Winery.A team of experts from the local council will be responsible for the integral safeguarding of this heritage (documentary treatment, packaging, organisation and dissemination), facilitating its study by researchers, and its showcasing to all interested citizens. This will also lend a new dynamic to the winery’s economic and communicational activity, expanding on what it provides to customers and the general public, by potentiating the best of the wines it produces, while keeping alive the region’s wine tradition.